Page 61 of The Burning
I heard the crunch of sticks near me and my back straightened; my senses perked up, on high alert. Of course, I knew we were just at a campground, not on a mission in the desert, but my body would never fail to go into flight-or-fight, usually the latter.
“Ugh, where is the damn bathroom?” I heard a voice say.
It was Karina. I recognized it immediately.
“It’s so damn cold. I need to get my bag from Kael’s truck. Where the hell is he, anyway?” she grumbled to herself. I laughed, genuinely amused by her complaints.
“What was that?” she questioned the air around her.
“Right here,” I said, jumping off the back hatch of my truck and landing with my feet on the dirt.
“What the hell!” Karina nearly shrieked. She hadn’t been expecting me here, which made it funnier. I laughed again, this time louder, and lifted my phone into the air with the flashlight on.
“What are you doing out here in the dark? You scared the shit out of me,” she said, wrapping her arms around her chest. She must be freezing in just a long-sleeved shirt and jeans.
“I’m just avoiding the crowd. What are you doing out here? Where’s your coat?”
She stepped closer into the light of my phone flashlight, just close enough that I could see her roll her eyes.
“I didn’t bring a coat. I didn’t bring anything useful, come to think of it,” she told me. Her voice sounded slightly slushed, like she was buzzed but not quite drunk. The idea of her being drunk around so many rowdy men made me uneasy, but it wasn’t my place to tell her that, and lord knows if I did, she would surely put me in my place.
“Of course you didn’t,” I whispered to myself, rubbing my hand over my mouth and chin. She was probably too worried about everything and everyone else to pay attention to what she would need.
“You brought books, though?” I asked. I could tell when I picked up her bag that she had brought at least two.
“How do you know that?”
“Your bag.”
She scoffed. “You went through my bag?”
I shook my head. I leaned back into the bed of my truck and turned on a small overhead light. “No, no. But I carried it. I can tell what’s in a bag without going through it. Especially if it’s something obvious like books. When were you planning to get reading time in?” I smiled at her.
“They’re more of an emotional support thing than thinking I’d be able to read. Plus, I didn’t have a clue what to expect. I’ve never been on a camping trip that didn’t involve my parents fighting or Austin and my dad trying to kill each other.”
Ahhh, there it was. The effortless stream of thoughts that fell from her lips, comforting me even more than the rocketless sky.
“This is more of a sleeping party in the woods than camping. Whose tent are you sleeping in?” I asked her out of curiosity and a bit of worry. I’d loaded her tiny bag into the car so I knew she didn’t bring a tent and from the anxiety rolling off her right now, I could read her mind and knew she hadn’t thought that through.
“Uhm.” She looked back toward the campground. The fire was burning bright, voices carrying to us even a couple hundred feet away.
“Whatever you do, don’t agree to sleep with Mendoza and Gloria. They will fuck with you in there and think they’re being quiet.”
Laughter mixed with surprise filled the air between us. “Good to know. Maybe my brother and Elodie brought one? I really, really suck at this.”
Silence fell between us. “You need a coat first before we figure out where you’ll sleep.” I reached back to open my duffel bag and grabbed my thickest hoodie and a blanket, handing them to her.
She stared at me, reluctant, but her guard was mostly down. I could tell that I didn’t have much longer with her in many ways, but this moment, just the two of us in the darkness, felt so good. I hated the way she had that effect on me, but while I was in the center of it, I loved it.
“Take them. And don’t you have to pee? The bathroom is pitch-black, FYI, and I saw Turner go in there with Gunner, the guy who looks like he should be in Hollywood, not the woods in Georgia,” I pointed out as she grabbed the hoodie from me and wrapped the blanket around her body. She shivered. I wanted to tell her to come closer but didn’t.
“I didn’t see anyone like that, but what are they . . .” The realization hit her, and she smiled. “Ohhh. I’m glad Turner is occupied,” she said, surprising both myself and her.
“You are?” I asked, looking into her eyes.
She nodded.
“And why is that?”
